Few entrepreneurs can claim to have actually changed the way we live, but Ray Kroc is one of them. His revolutions in food service automation, franchising, shared national training and advertising have earned him a place beside the men who founded not merely businesses but entire new industries.

But even more interesting than Ray Kroc the business legend is Ray Kroc the man. Not your typical self-made tycoon, Kroc was 52 when he met the McDonald brothers and opened his first franchise.

Now meet Ray Kroc, the man behind the business legend, in his own words. Irrepressible enthusiast, perceptive people-watcher, and born storyteller, he will fascinate and inspire you. You'll never forget Ray Kroc.

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When it comes to business literature there are three kinds of writers:1. Those who did it and write about it: business owners and entrepreneurs2. Those who read about it: journalists, business books writers, and historians3. Thos who think about it: professors, researchers, and think tanksEvery single of has their own merit and contribution to the world of business history, but for me it is very important as a business professional to learn from the people who did it. What were they thinking? What where they feels? Why?The other two kinds of writers can tall you what they did and how but they can never tell you why?Which is why I recommend reading books like "Grinding It Out".Even though most people might think that McDonald's was brought to the world by a family baring that name, it was Ray Kroc who found them in California and brought it to the billions of people worldwide.In this book you make many discoveries as to the reason for McDonald's success. Why did they become number one in their category? What was Ray Kroc thinking and why he chose the path he walked.I highly recommend this book instead of all of the other books about McDonald's because you the inside prospective from the person who did it all, but perhaps most importantly you get to know why!!!!

Ray Kroc was an itinerant piano player, a paper cup salesman, a multi-mixer super-salesman and, in his most incandescent incarnation, the visionary middle-aged genius behind the McDonald's megalith. This is his gilded story, offered with all the self-serving bombast you might expect from someone who reinvented himself and the world when most of us are beginning to resignedly look down the slow slope towards retirement. Someone once said that reading biographies is worthwhile only so long as the life in question glitters. A strange epitaph, perhaps, to give to someone who made a difference with armies of beef-slinging, coke-sloshing, fry-sizzling, hygiene-obsessed foot-soldiers. But that was Ray Kroc. And "Grinding it Out" is his improbable journey through this dream we call life. We have all been affected by his original reverie, long ago, when he clandestinely watched two brothers named McDonald serving burgers from their oddly shaped fast-food stand. A book to be enjoyed for those who say, "only in America", not with a sneer, but with a wistful smile.

Go into McDonald's today, and you see a complex, well-operated business system operated by ordinary people. That is impressive in and of itself. What is even more impressive is to understand the roots of how this business was established, which you can do by reading this entertaining and revealing book.Unlike most people who write about themselves and their businesses, Ray Kroc was pretty candid about the problems he had, the people who gave him a hard time, the mistakes he made, and his personal life. That makes this book very valuable to those who want to understand what entrepreneurship is all about.As an adjunct to reading this book, I suggest that you also visit the McDonald's museum near O'Hare airport in Ray Kroc's first store. There are notes there about all of the problems that he had to solve over the years, many of which are described in the book.Ray Kroc did not invent the original McDonald's concept, but what he franchised and eventually bought from the McDonald brothers was not yet a real business system. For example, when he first tried to duplicate the french fries that were so famous in San Bernardino, California, his french fries turned to mush. It turned out that the storage methods used by the McDonald brothers aged and dehydrated the potatoes a bit so that they could fry up nicely. Kroc had to invest in finding a process for doing that outside of the near-desert climate of San Bernardino.The McDonald's system that we see today is the creation of Kroc's attention to detail, appreciation for consumer value, ability to solve problems, taking calculated risks that he could not afford to lose, and attracting talented people into the system. The book gives you a great sense of what that was like.Read more ›

Ray Kroc's wisdom from his autobiography:"You have to spend money to make money.""I have always believed that each man makes his own happiness and is responsible for his own problems.""A man must take advantage of any opportunity that comes along.""I was driven by ambition. I hated to be idle for a minute. I was determined to live well and have nice things, too.""I work from the part to the whole, and I don't move on to the large scale ideas until i have perfected the small details.""It's lonely on top.""Train for a career. Learn how to support themselves and how to enjoy work first. Then if they have a thirst for learning, they can go to night school."Ah, great person in America!

I would like to first start by saying I hate reading. I got this book Tuesday night. It is now 6:30 Wednesday and I am now done with the 200 plus page book. I have not been able to put this book down. I have found it very interesting. I think Ray Kroc was an extremely talented and dedicated man. As a McDonald's manager I was familiar with the story of Ray, from this book I have learned so much more. I was surprised at how well it kept my attention. This is the first book I have read for pleasure in a long time. I recommed it to anyone that enjoys reading about true inspirational people.